Chasing the Sacred: The INFJ’s Quest for Meaning

The INFJ is uniquely built for spiritual experiences and the pursuit of God. We are drawn to the deep, wanting recesses of our minds where questions of life, death and eternity haunt us. We go there as explorers, sometimes warriors, where we find and capture both the dark figures we encounter and the light that inspires us. 

This journey, the path to the unknown saturated with promises of meaning, is the constant companion of the world’s rarest personality, the INFJ.

INFJs and the Role of the Sacred

So what do I mean by sacred? If you go by the simple dictionary definition, sacred means “connected to God.” No matter which faith tradition or background you are from, an INFJ will need meaning and purpose at the deepest levels. A spiritual pursuit of some kind will always be before them. We are born to live, feel and express this so don’t expect anything different.

And what does the sacred look like to an INFJ? It looks like anything infused with profound purpose, and anything that reflects our most treasured ideals and values. The search for the sacred is ever-present in our daily lives and shapes our most important goals. It’s a radical departure from the material world around us as we chase what is often just beyond our grasp. It’s common for the INFJ never to “arrive” but to continue the chase throughout their lives finding new and deeper pursuits.  

What’s Different About the Spirituality of an INFJ?   

An INFJ will search for a lifetime to experience the sacred in what others may see as mundane.  While another type may find a park bench significant as a place to eat lunch and return phone calls, that same bench can yield personal epiphanies for the INFJ.

The only way to understand this is through our cognitive function stack. These are the mental processes we use more often than our so-called shadow functions, which are underdeveloped and are used unconsciously during times of stress. All our primary functions support our dominant (most preferred ) function, and serve to balance our personality.

Three INFJ Strongholds That Harbor the Sacred

So let’s take a look at the first three cognitive functions of the INFJ and how they promote what is sacred.  Then we will look at our fourth cognitive function, saving the surprise for last. You’ll see what I mean!

The sacred dominates our inner universe using Introverted Intuition 

Among the eight mental functions outlined by Carl Jung, none are more dedicated to the sacred than Introverted Intuition (Ni). For INFJs, Ni is the eager and intensely curious captain of our mind’s ship. It is eternally on the lookout for new insight, new personal truths, and new experiences which all align with a bigger picture that answers our most sacred questions. This captain works effortlessly and “receives” answers seemingly all at once like a flash of light, making novel revelations feel almost supernatural. 

The INFJ spends most of their time in the information-receiving mode of Ni, processing incoming data. And because the INFJ is deeply empathic, our insights into the sacred involve spiritually holistic solutions for all of humanity, not just for ourselves. This is the mental process that directs the way we understand and navigate our lives and points to the future with visions of the world as a better place for all people.

The sacred shapes our relationships using Extraverted Feeling (Fe)

Extraverted Feeling (Fe) is the auxiliary function (second favorite) of the INFJ. It’s responsible for the depth of connection we can achieve that is sometimes referred to as the “soulmate” experience. This isn’t necessarily a romantic relationship. Rather, it’s the feeling that we are eternally bonded with another spirit whose existence goes beyond this earthly one, and we have known them on another plane.

Any close, important relationship an INFJ has will be measured against what is sacred to them. Does this relationship inspire them to be their most authentic self, so that what is sacred becomes a natural overflow of self-expression? This bonding over meaning is the foundation of any treasured INFJ relationship, and as long as it stays healthy, it will be cherished and protected.  

The sacred is grounded in our pursuit of knowledge using Introverted Thinking (Ti)

Introverted Thinking (Ti), another information gathering process, is responsible for our dedication to learning and analyzing information. Ever the seekers of knowledge, INFJs use Ti to lay the logical groundwork for understanding all that emerges from their Ni.  In this way, an INFJ can check their intuitive gift against inconsistencies with their sense of logic. This is why organized religion is not usually a draw for an INFJ who craves the deeper truths of the universe. It’s important that their own insights and experiences – not religious dogma – determine for them what is true and authentic.

Ti’s support for our dominant function, Ni, gives us a foothold in reason and helps us communicate our ideas to others. Ti works alongside Ni offering grounding for our soaring imagination and allows us to make sense to our friends and family who often think our heads are forever in the clouds.

The Surprising Role of Extraverted Sensing (Se)

Now we come to our least favorite function, Extraverted Sensing (Se). Se is quite the opposite of our most favorite Ni, and is responsible for how we take in concrete data from our environment in the here and now, with our senses. INFJs neglect this function most days in favor of our beloved, introverted deep dives. In fact, it’s not unusual for an INFJ to let dishes pile up and forget to do laundry as we disappear into rich inner landscapes of insights, dreams and abstractions of all kinds.

So how does Se support and balance our dominant function Ni, and does it have a role to play in the never-ending search for meaning in the life of the INFJ?

The answer is both interesting and surprising. Because Se is unfamiliar to us and so unlike Ni, which we make our home, it can sometimes take on a “magical” air, and we can experience it as mysterious. And even though it’s underused, the INFJ’s sensitivity extends to their Se function, helping us to develop it. This is why we are known for being keen observers picking up on subtleties in our environment. This data is then processed automatically into a whole by Ni producing a big-picture insight that seems to come out of the ethers.  

The Present Moment Awareness Trend

There has been a surge of “present-moment awareness” enthusiasts in recent decades with books like The Power of Now. This popular self-help book by Eckhart Tolle teaches how to achieve a healthier, happier and more spiritual life by focusing on the present moment., instead of over-identifying with the “analytical mind” and its endless stream of thoughts about the past and future. The book provides a method to quiet this mind, overcome the ego, and find peace by embracing the "Now". 

The thing is, these spiritual seekers are usually Intuitives who mistakenly think that this “present moment” practice comes only to the “enlightened” – without realizing that about 75% of the population is already living in the present moment as Sensors, and they do it naturally and without effort. Present moment awareness is the air they breathe, and is quite natural for them, not supernatural.

For example, a Sensing type will experience art and nature for what it is in the moment and appreciate it for its aesthetic value. But the INFJ observes their immediate physical environment with their sensitive Se function and then processes it with Ni, which moves this data into the realm of the abstract and converts it into symbolism, patterns, and deeper meaning. Ultimately, INFJs are fond of such creations not for their tangible aspects, but for where it takes them in their Ni universe.

So it turns out that the least favorite of our primary functions provides an irreplaceable platform from which to launch our spiritual pursuits, while it’s the everyday go-to for the average Sensor and feels quite ordinary to them. So while the present moment may be where the INFJ starts before a mystical experience, it’s the future-oriented function of Ni that takes them deeply into communion with the sacred, giving them a perspective that seems to transcend anything here on earth.

So is the INFJ’s Pursuit of the Sacred “Otherworldly?”

Bottom line: the INFJ is a mystic down to the core. The role of present moment experience introduced through the senses, and then infinitely expanded with Ni, can feel like spiritual enlightenment as it becomes an integral part of our Ni world.

The sacred, and especially the INFJ sacred, is so deep and mysteriously life-giving that any definition I can give dances all around it but never nails it down. Instead, it evolves as we pursue it and the moment we think we are upon it, it eludes us, as if that captain of our mind’s ship spies a light on distant waters, but on approach it morphs into something else.

So as we traverse the transcendent terrain of Ni that looks and feels otherworldly, it may be that our experience is simply Se feeding Ni data that, like puzzle pieces, will all fit together in a sudden burst of insight, or the INFJ big picture. And while this seemingly magical process that graces us with visions of the sacred is always impressive and often astounding, we can probably understand it in these earthly terms.